300 years ago today - Lisburn's worst catastrophe

TODAY (Friday) is
the 300th anniversary of the Great Fire of Lisburn
which on Sunday April 20, 1707 burned the entire
town to the ground.

It was one of the most momentous events in
the town's history.

The fire was started accidentally in a house
in an alleyway off Bow Street, and, fanned by high winds, spread
widely within a few hours.

There were no emergency services in those
days to fight the fire or to deal with the many townspeople who
became temporarily homeless when their houses were destroyed.

The story of the Great Fire of Lisburn is one
of stoic resilience in the face of terrible adversity, leading
to energetic regeneration in the rebirth of Lisburn.

An important town, now a city, arose from the
ashes and the significance of this civic spirit underpins
Lisburn City Council's Latin motto `Ex Igne Resurgam' which can
be translated as the following: `I will arise out of the fire:

This special feature on the day that helped
to shape modern Lisburn has been produced by the staff of the
Lisburn Museum

Blaze broke out on a Sunday morning

THE fire in Lisburn broke out on a Sunday
morning at 11am when many people may have been at church,
leaving their homes unoccupied.

Most of the buildings in 17th century town were
made of timber and plaster work and roofed with thatch or wooden
shingles.

These materials burned easily. Only the grander
houses were of stone or brick.

Tradesmen and shopkeepers lived above their
premises and many of the goods stored at street level would have
been flammable such as tallow, turf, cloth and yarn. Homes were
lit by candles and, on dark nights outdoors, people used open
flame torches.

Town fires were not uncommon - perhaps the best
known example is the Great Fire of London in 1666 - but in
Ireland only Dublin had a public fire fighting service.

An eyewitness report described how quickly
and extensively the fire spread: "Only some turf ashes thrown on
a dunghill, which a brisk wind blowing towards the town raised
... took fire and the wind continuing what it had begun, the
whole town...was irrecoverably in flames...From that end [of the
town] which leadeth to Moyra ...until you come to the other end
near Belfast there is not a standing house except the Market
House...yea, the flames flew from the castle into that part of
the town that stood in the county of Down."

Thankfully, the Dublin newspapers reported no
deaths due to the fire but it had a tremendous effect on daily
life.

A local minister wrote in a letter: "This is
a very sore and sudden shock and...I pray God you never
experience the like. There are many families wholly broken and
several had not so much as to buy bread to their children last
market day."

Many people's jobs were affected. The linen
manufacture of Louis Crommelin and his workers ceased
temporarily when their houses and looms were destroyed.

Some of the Huguenot workers left Lisburn
permanently while others accepted government funding to return
to the town and start afresh.

Newspaper accounts spread the news of the
fire and invited donations for the relief of families in
distress.

Money was sent to the Lisburn clergy from
church congregations in Ireland and England.

The landlord of the town, Francis
Seymour-Conway, who lived in England, visited Lisburn and helped
his tenants to rebuild their homes.

He granted a rent free period, renewed leases
and also permitted free use of timber from his woods for
rebuilding.

This encouraged the return of many of the
families who had fled. It also attracted newcomers to the newly rebuilt
town.

Lisburn rebuilt to its original 1600's street
plan

AFTER the Fire, the town was rebuilt on the
original 17th century street plan and assumed a newly improved
appearance –'all brick houses, slated of one bigness, all new' –
as brick replaced wood and slates and tiles replaced shingles.

The earliest buildings in the Historic
Quarter date largely from that time and later.

The Market House, now the home of the Irish
Linen Centre & Lisburn Museum is the only 17th century building
which survived the fire.

A sandstone memorial plaque dated 1708,
originally on the front of a new house in Market Square built by
the Quaker, Jacob Hancock, is now on display in the Museum.

Its wording gives an insight into the respect
for God and authority which was felt by the people of the time.

The crest which was adopted in 1964 by the then
newly created Lisburn Borough Council preserves the memory of
the town's response to the devastating disaster.

A visitor to Lisburn in the immediate aftermath of the fire
likened the rebuilding which was taking place to the classical
interpretation of the phoenix as a sacred firebird arising out
of a fire.

The motto 'Ex igne resurgam' and the image of
two phoenixes rising from the flames represent the rise and
rebirth of the new from the ashes of the old.

The earliest plan drawing of Lisburn, c.1630,
which shows the street layout, the castle and the first church.

First established as a town in the early 17th
century

LISBURN was originally known as Lisnegarvey
and was established as a town in the early 1600s.

The Conway family was granted the land by
James I in 1609 and began to lay out the central area of Market
Square, Castle Street and Bridge Street - the area now defined
as the Historic Quarter.

The Conways encouraged people from their
estates in Warwickshire and Wales to settle in Lisburn.

Later in the century, Quaker families came
from the north of England.

The developing linen industry attracted Louis
Crommelin and other Huguenots from northern France and Holland.

By the end of the 17th century Lisburn was an
important commercial and military town, with a weekly market, a
school, a cathedral and local courts and assizes. Its population
was over 2000.

The leaflet produced by Plantation Road Gospel Hall showing the memorial plaque
which commemorates the fire.

Gospel Hall marks anniversary of devastating
inferno

PLANTATION Gospel Hall has used the
opportunity presented by today's (Friday) Tercentenary of the
Great Fire of Lisburn to spread the Christian message.

The congregation has marked the 300th
anniversary of the catastrophe by publishing a leaflet which not
only details what happened but also draws parallels between the
fire and the message of the Bible.

For example, it explains the blaze which saw
Lisburn reduced to ashes started 'in a very simple way'.

Quickly

However, it quickly spread until 'all people
were affected by it'. The leaflet compares this to sin which it
says started very simply in Eden's Garden but adds: "Its results
are still spreading today." Continuing with this theme, the
leaflet points out the way to be safe when fire breaks out is to

stand where the fire has been - the principle
of the fire break - as flames will never pass over scorched
ground that has experienced fire.

Spiritual

"So it is in the spiritual realm. There is a
saviour who has been in the heat of God's judgement as my
substitute," it adds.

The publication also draws parallels with the
Crucifixion of Christ on Good Friday. Describing the fire as
accidental, it says the 'Cross of Calvary was no accident of
history'.

Instead, the author writes, it was God's
'immense purpose of love' to save perishing humanity from a
burning hell.

Thousands of copies of the leaflet are being
printed. Anyone wishing to receive a copy should request one on
the website -
www.plantationgospelhall.org.uk.